Before a car bomb killed him this morning in Beirut, Mohamad Chatah was a well-known Lebanese politician who'd served as finance minister, ambassador to the United States and most recently as a senior adviser to former prime minister Saad Hariri. He was also a member of Lebanon's Sunni Muslim community and an outspoken critic of the Syrian government and its most prominent Lebanese supporters, the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, among others.

Chatah's criticism often took place, in recent months, on his Twitter account. His final message, posted just hours before his death, accused Hezbollah of seeking power over Lebanon akin to Syria's years-long occupation of the country. Given that Hariri hinted that he believed that Hezbollah was likely responsible for the attack (Hezbollah quickly condemned Chatah's killing), it's awfully ominous to read now:

#Hezbollah is pressing hard to be granted similar powers in security & foreign policy matters that Syria exercised in Lebanon for 15 yrs.

Others of Chatah's recent tweets, re-read now in light of his death, help make clear his outspoken criticism of groups within and outside Lebanon, particularly Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his allies. Here are a few:

Arafat then Assad then Nasrallah. If Lebanon is not saved from its current path history will tell how the 3rd blow led to its final downfall

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Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.